


Carp Over The Gate

by taichara



Category: King of Fighters
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 17:11:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1949433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Athena's been keeping a secret for several years now, and a tight grip on something precious for just as long.  Until she knows -- somehow -- that the time is right, it's all staying that way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carp Over The Gate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Samuraiter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samuraiter/gifts).



It was supposed to be a relaxing day of training, and for the other members of the Psycho Soldiers team perhaps it was. Athena, however, was having no such luck. 

Two memories of conversations past warred for attention, petulant and demanding as children and driving out any attempt at quiet contemplation she could muster. Eventually even her stubborn patience could wear thin — especially where her own faults were involved — and, sighing ruefully, she gave up on meditations. The pale wood of the deck was sunlight warm under her feet as she stood, stretching. Across the broad courtyard she could just make out the colourful flashes that were Kensou and Bao at training ("It certainly took long enough to badger him into it"), could hear the old master's raucous instructions.

The memories flickered past, too prominent to ignore, too persistent to dismiss:

_'Did you get your powers back?'_  
'No, nothing ...'  
'You'd better train harder then! You'll need to make up for it —!' 

She'd been needlessly mocking, needlessly heartless over Kensou's loss. And it hurt, oh how it had hurt. But it was necessary, just as that other thing, even more heartless, was necessary ...

_'Master, I —!'_  
'Do it, Athena. Seal his skills away, and keep him sealed until it's time. You'll know when to break it again.  
'It's for the boy's own good — he needs to harness that other lurking power of his, and that's not commenting on his need for discipline. He's leaning too much on what he already knows.  
'More to the point, one of you at least needs to slip past the cold metal grip of the tournament's new "sponsors". There's a bigger fish than that lot looming.'  
'But, Master Chin ...'  
'Don't you volunteer yourself, young lady! Besides,' 

_— the old man's wrinkled-apple face had split with a smile not in the least drunken, at that regretfully sober —_

_'You can keep him sealed with no one the wiser, not even Kensou himself. He can hardly do the same to you, now can he?  
'Now, be a dear and refill this for me ...'_

Flashes of colour, the _*crack*_ of blows successfully blocked; shouts of triumph and pained frustration. Athena heaved another sigh, bit her lip, then schooled her expression as she started across the courtyard.

_I trust Master Chin to know what we should be doing._  
I can do this.  
But, Kensou, I'm so sorry! 

-*-

_*twock* *twock* *twock*_

A flurry of blows rattled the practice dummy for the tenth time in as many minutes before Kensou drew in a breath, held it, let it go, and stepped ruefully away a few scant paces to review his forms in his mind.

_... Ready._

Tentatively, he tried to reach out for another mind, spark that sixth and hidden sense to life again.

Nothing. Again. Like always.

_What happened to me? It's like I just ... stopped. Still don't know why, either._

Two KoF tourneys had come and gone, with NESTS finally — Kensou fervently hoped! — dismantled, and he was still headblind. It was frustrating as hell.

_Maybe that stupid space laser has something to do with it._

It'd make about as much sense as anything else he'd come up for a theory, anyway. The thing did get powered up by everyone's chi, why not psycho power?

Kensou drew in another breath; held it, let it go. He could feel the dragon-spirit coiling inside him, like currents of white-ice lightning beneath his skin; the dragon power he'd clawed and fought to claim in order to fill the void-that-wasn't that echoed where his extra senses should have been. He was more than he'd been, probably a better fighter even — training paid off, much as he hated to do it — but there was still just nothing _there_. The dragon-spirit was something else. A different kind of inner alchemy.

And it just wasn't the same.

_I'll get it back. I'll find whatever carved a hole in my head and left me blind and crippled, and when I do they'll see what a psycho-powered dragon can do —_

A third breath; held; let go. Squaring his shoulders, Kensou launched another flurry against the hapless dummy.

Unseen, unsensed, Athena drew back her feather-light probe of energy and retreated.

Not yet, it wasn't time yet ...

-*-

_Oh no. Oh no — what just happened —?!_

Pandemonium at the tournament! It had already been the strangest King of Fighters since the Orochi tribe made its move, with strange undercurrents of power that made Athena's skin crawl and her inner sight recoil — even the small things were strange, and concerning. No one had known what to make of Terry's changes (and where was his brother?); there were the new crop of strangers; Bernstein's children, out of nowhere ... Chizuru and her bizarre, unearthly mannequin ...

_Chizuru!!_

... which hadn't saved her in the end. And now, in front of them all, that strange flame-caster (green flames. green flames!), Ash, had claimed the Yata mirror, taken Chizuru's power for his own, promised Yagami (he wanted to risk his life like that?) he would be next —

Athena could taste phantom fear, like bitter salt at the back of her throat; felt the horrified outrage spilling from the assembled fighters, and laboured to block the frenzy of thoughts from her mind.

For one heartbeat, silence reigned, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the vision crashed in like a tsunami.

Ash was not the only threat. Not even the greatest of them.

They were returning. Those From The Past ...

_We need to —!_

With the half-seen nightmares still shimmering like mirages in her mind's eye, Athena reached out with mind and soul and tore those waiting seals apart —

...

The entire fight stage was going berserk! Kensou — dodging bodies — would've instantly made an even bet, if he'd been asked, that at least half the audience (especially those watching at home) thought that Crimson bastard's antics were just part of the show, but he knew better —

_You slimy snaky little —!  
What're you going to try to do with that?!_

Lunging sidewise, he slipped past a startled Robert and evaded Terry grip like a greased weasel without pausing to look back. There was no sign of Athena on the edge of the chaos, which meant she had to be somewhere in the middle of the madhouse and that was no place to be —

_Come on, come on, where are you — _

_Aha!_

There she was! Grinning, Kensou put on a burst of speed; he could feel her just up ahead —

_Wait_

_I —_

_Feel_ Athena? Touch her mind ...?

The world rushed in, spilled outwards in a wave of power and sensation and coiling, coruscating force.

The dragon roared in his ears, in his veins, in his mind —

_YES —!_


End file.
